Black History
1838 Anti-Slavery "Am I Not A Woman And A Sister" Type
1838-Dated, Anti-Slavery Hard Times Token, "Am I Not A Woman And A Sister." Copper, Rulau 81. HT-81, Low-54, W-11-720a. with fully clear "1838" date, Near Full Red Uncirculated.
Rarity-1. Obverse features a central Black Woman down upon one knee, her arms shackled and pleading for humanity. The reverse has "Liberty 1838" within a wreath, with the words, "United States Of America" surrounding. One of the sharpest struck and well centered examples of this virtual full red Anti-Slavery Hard Times tokens we have offered of this major type. Choice in eye appeal save for some faint hairlines and a touch of cabinet friction on the obverse high points and does not appear to have been cleaned in its past though it is possible. This extremely sharp historic Anti-Slavery Token measures about 1" in diameter (23.3 mm). Its design is styled after Josiah Wedgewood's very popular "Am I Not a Man and a Brother" Anti-Slavery theme plaque, being a design which also appeared on some British tokens issued around 1795. This Black History related token sought to bring attention to the plight of Slaves. In this instance focused particularly on the Black women who were being held in bondage in many of the American Southern States. The red luster and its sharpness of every detail, inclusive of the hair, chains and typically softly struck 1838 date, plus having virtual "wire" rims, are exceptional.
Thousands of Josiah Wedgwood's 'Am I Not a Man and a Brother' Jasperware cameos were incorporated into brooches, bracelets, earrings and hair ornaments, allowing the wearer to indicate sympathy with the Abolitionist cause. The 'kneeling slave' image was also rendered on a variety of other artefacts and was considered a very suitable subject for young girls to embroider on their samplers.
Women could also buy china bearing anti-slavery messages. The tea table was the sphere of influence particular to the woman of the house and, while entertaining her friends, she could pass round a sugar bowl bearing the motto, 'East India Sugar not made/By Slaves/By Six families using/East India, instead of/West India Sugar, one/Slave less is required'. By boycotting West Indian sugar and displaying articles such as this she turned herself from a passive consumer into a political activist.
Women were able to demonstrate their sensibility by buying and subscribing to the slim volumes of abolitionist poetry that were finding a popular readership. These were written by women of all sorts and conditions, by, as already noted, the evangelical Hannah More, by her working-class protoge, Ann Yearsley, by Mary Robinson, ex-mistress of the Prince of Wales, and by a succession of young women, such as Mary Birkett of Dublin. Women were also able to educate the younger generation by purchasing works such as The Negro Boy's Tale: a poem addressed to children, published by Amelia Opie in 1802.
Women also exercised their talents in order to raise funds for the cause. The bazaar became a particularly womanly form of demonstrating support. As ever, this activity was regarded in some quarters as a waste of effort. In a letter of 22 September 1828 the salon hostess, Mary Clarke Mohl, wrote: 'My niece spends all her time making little embroidered bags to be sold for the Anti-Slavery Society ...which would be all very well if, instead of turning seamstress to gain 10 a year, she put some poor woman in the way of work'.
Only three years after the Anti-Slavery Society had agreed to change its agenda, the 1833 Anti-Slavery Act abolished slavery within the British colonies. Although a period of apprenticeship was imposed on former slaves before they could obtain freedom, a determined effort by the abolitionists led, in 1838, to the early termination of this system. A national women's petition on behalf of the apprentices addressed to the newly crowned Queen Victoria had carried the signatures of 7000,000 women, a number described as 'unprecedented in the annals of petitioning'.
'Am I not a woman and a sister' reads the legend arching over the female figure of Justice as she reaches towards a kneeling black slave woman, who holds her chained hands up in supplication. In the 1830s this powerful emblem was used on printed matter and on artifacts associated with women-only, or 'ladies', Anti-Slavery associations. It very consciously echoed the motto, 'Am I Not a Man and a Brother', adopted in 1787 by the founders of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
KEYWORDS:
Black History, Slavery Chains, Black History, Woman's Rights, Sufferage, Civil War